Future Tour: Secrets of a Spiritual Guru by Tamara Lee …
Tamara will be on tour August 12-September 2 with her novel Secrets of a Spiritual Guru Meet Melissa Murphy: wine-drinking real estate agent who finds…
Book Review: Moonpennies by Alanna Rosette
Reviewer: Terry I was giving this book in exchange for an honest review Moonpennies is a funny and slightly sad story about a girl who…
CLP Blog Tours Book Review: Royal Secrets by Kathleen Irene …
Kathleen Irene Paterka is now on tour with CLP Blog Tours and Royal Secrets
Summary:
ROYAL SECRETS is the story of the Royal Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas, and of Lily Lavender, whose family is distantly descended from the British royal family. Immersed in the regal world of weddings and romance, Lily grew up believing in brides, grooms and happily-ever-afters. It seemed her destiny and royal birthright to someday assume a position as wedding coordinator in their family-owned wedding chapel business. But when her mother Mimi’s third marriage eventually fails, Lily’s dreams of her own happily-ever-after quickly fade. She’s no longer interested in a life of assisting brides walk down the aisle into a life of disillusionment and possible divorce. Lily turns her back on The Royal Wedding Chapel and leaves Las Vegas to fashion a life of her own. Years later, Lily—now a single mom—discovers her teenage daughter has run off to Las Vegas, lured by Mimi to help run the chapel. Determined to save her daughter from the broken dreams of Sin City and the nonsensical world of which family fairy tales are made, Lily returns to Las Vegas. But nothing prepares Lily for the royal drama which awaits her… or the sins and secrets she stumbles across that threaten to close the chapel and ruin her family forever.
Review:
I have also read and reviewed Fatty Patty by this author, and I was looking forward to reading another book from her. Royal Secrets is a lot of fun and always kept me on my toes! There was a plot twist in there that through me completely off guard and made this really hard to put down. I loved the Las Vegas setting, I though the royal family plot point was great (and the timing works so well with the Royal Baby Countdown), and the characters had depth and were interesting to read about. I highly enjoyed this story, and I hope you will read it!
4.5 stars
*Everyone who leaves a comment on Kathleen’s tour page will be entered to win a $20 Amazon gift card! Anyone who purchases their copy of Royal Secrets before August 12 and sends their receipt to Samantha (at) ChickLitPlus (dot) com, will get five bonus entries.**
About Kathleen:
Kathleen Irene Paterka is the author of numerous women’s fiction novels which embrace universal themes of home, family life and love, including ROYAL SECRETS and the James Bay series (FATTY PATTY, HOME FIRES, LOTTO LUCY and FOR I HAVE SINNED). Kathleen is the resident staff writer for Castle Farms, a world renowned castle listed on the National Historic Register, and co-author of the non-fiction book FOR THE LOVE OF A CASTLE, published in 2012. Having lived and studied abroad, Kathleen’s educational background includes a Bachelor of Arts degree from Central Michigan University. She and her husband live in the beautiful north country of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula.
Contact Kathleen:
Website: http://www.kathleenirenepaterka.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KathleenIrenePaterka?ref=hl
ScribBLING Divas Blog: http://scribblingdivas.com/
Buy the book:
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Royal-Secrets-ebook/dp/B00DG8736C/ref=tmm_kin_title_0
Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/royal-secrets-kathleen-irene-paterka/1115696682?ean=2940016595221
Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/325372
On Tour: Front Page Fatality by LynDee Walker
LynDee will be on tour July 22-August 6 with her novel Front Page Fatality Crime reporter Nichelle Clarke’s days can flip from macabre to comical…
On Tour: Royal Secrets by Kathleen Irene Paterka
Kathleen will be on tour July 22-August 12 with her novel Royal Secrets ROYAL SECRETS is the story of the Royal Wedding Chapel in Las…
CLP Blog Tours Book Review: Looming Murder by Carol Ann …
Carol Ann Martin is now on tour with Looming Murder and CLP Blog Tours
Summary:
Della Wright has come to peaceful and picturesque Briar Hollow, at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains, to realize her lifelong dream of owning a weaving studio. To promote her new business, Dream Weavers, Della is offering weaving workshops for all levels of ability. In her first class, she meets half a dozen of the town’s colorful characters, who seem as eager to gossip as to learn how to work a loom.
But when a shady local businessman is found murdered, Briar Hollow suddenly appears a lot less idyllic. And when one of her weaving students is suspected of the crime, Della can’t help getting entangled in the investigation—with some help from her criminologist friend, Matthew. But can she weave together clues as well as she weaves together yarn—and stop a killer from striking again?
Review:
I tend to enjoy cozy mysteries, and Looming Murder was no exception! The beginning started off just a tad slow for me, but it was easy to get into Della’s life and follow her story. Mysteries are fun for me and I like trying to figure out whodunit while enjoying the story. I thought Della was interesting to read about, especially when it came to her love life – and shoe choices! I loved that nod to chick lit 🙂 I also thought she was a strong heroine and someone who was independent, so more points for Della. Briar Hollow was a cute little community to immerse myself in, the supporting case was interesting to read about, and I recommend the book!
4 stars
Blog Tour Sign Up: Shake Down the Stars by Renee …
Renee will be on tour in late September with her women’s fiction novel Shake Down the Stars. I am looking for book bloggers to post…
CLP Blog Tours Book Review: Getting Skinny by Monique Domovitch
Monique Domovitch is on tour now with CLP Blog Tours and Getting Skinny Summary: Owning a restaurant is as crazy for Nicky Landry as an…
Wedding Update: Here Comes the…Stress
Don’t call me a bridezilla. This is the sentence that I say in my head over and over as my wedding date gets closer. I don’t like yelling at people and I am very non-confrontational, but this wedding has brought out a whole new side of me. Why am I yelling at people? The latest fiasco (in the line of many) is that our jewelry store forgot to order our wedding bands. Yes, we went to the jewelry store in May, looked at bands for two hours, had three people including a manager help us, yet no one went ahead and pushed the order through. So when I thought to myself, where is our phone call about the bands being in, and decide to stop off at the store, imagine my extreme pleasure in being told, “I’m sorry, it looks like the order didn’t get put through.” Cue yelling. We’ve also had salespeople “forget” to order the bridesmaid dresses so now my maids barely have time for alterations, and even a hotel simply decided our contract and deposit to block off rooms for our guests wasn’t good enough and gave it to a different wedding party. So please, don’t call me a bridezilla when I yell. I wouldn’t have to be yelling if these errors weren’t being made. The wedding planning would still be stressful, don’t get me wrong, but now I have zero confidence in any of my vendors. I have now becoming the paranoid bride that is calling all of her vendors – from the officiant, cake lady, florist, reception hall manager, etc – to check, double check, confirm and re-confirm everything is set and I will get no more surprises along the way. Is stuff still going to go wrong? Yes, I have no doubt. That happens. But I have to say the amount of human error that has happened so far has me quite displeased, stressed, and not sleeping well at night. But that’s why I have this blog – so I can vent – right? I’ve been putting a few charming tidbits of what’s going wrong on Facebook and Twitter, and I love the email messages I am receiving from other past brides regaling me with their horror stories. They are helping me calm down, see the light at the end of the tunnel, and show me that one day I will look back and laugh and hopefully tell another woman all my sad stories so she can feel relief. I accept that no wedding is perfect and that the planning process will put stress on any bride-to-be.
Well, that was quite the rant! Can you tell this latest miscue just happened and is fresh on my mind? Let’s talk about something more uplifting…like my invitations! I haven’t shared them with the virtual world yet, so I’m happy to use this post to show them off. My first dress fitting is next week, and I finally purchased my shoes as well, so I’m all set for that appointment. Some items we are working on now: our wedding slideshow, buying gifts for our wedding party, and finalizing our ceremony timeline and vows. Less than two months to go and no matter how stressful this has become, I’m still so excited to become a wife and marry my best friend. Just don’t call me a bridezilla.
